Carpet Cleaning and Restoration Blog

Water damage restoration experts say that the best step to start working on water damage at a residence is to make the owners of the place act fast and deal with the damage until water damage restoration agents come and deal with the damages professionally. Water damages can lead to serious complications; that is why water damage restoration experts advise people to follow the following tips.

1. After a Flood:Follow the following steps after a flood.• If the cause of the flood is a burst pipe or a failure of water heater, turn off the main water line for your residence. Call water damage restoration services as soon as possible. • Shut down the power by cutting off the electricity and gas from their main sources. It is essential whether the leak is small or large to do this step as all it takes is one drop to cause a disaster. It is better to have an electrician to handle shutting off in case you have standing water.• You need to assess the damage in order to know how much money you will pay for the water damage restoration service. Take some pictures for the insurance company.• Save your most valuable possessions and remove any valuable items. Don’t waste time cleaning anything; just rescue everything first.

2. Get Rid of Standing Water:When the water sits for a long time, the damages will be disastrous. Here are some tips that you should follow in order to get rid of any standing water.• When everything is safe, start pumping out any standing water.• When you deal with a natural flood, wait until the water of the flood have receded below your place. • You need to wear protective gear while working in your flooded house. Wear rubber boots, gloves, and a mask or respirator.• You need to keep your kids and pets away from the standing water. Any standing water is contaminated and may be harmful to your kids and pets.• The place of the pump should be at the lowest spot of the area affected by the flooded water.• The usage of a wet-dry vacuum is the best solution for small amount of flooding.

3. Mold and Mildew:Mold need water damage restoration services experts to deal with it. You need to assess mold for your insurance company and to help the water damage restoration agents. Follow the following steps.• Mold can grow anywhere. It can be visible and it can grow in air ducts, between walls, rafters, and crawl spaces.• If mold is not visible, find any noticeable must earth smell. If there is any, then there is invisible mold undetected.• Mildew and mold develop within 48 hours after exposure to moisture.• Turn off the power as mold will make any wires or cables wet which is extremely dangerous.• Dry the area out before mold spreads to other areas and becomes hard to remove by water damage restoration agents. When mold stays for long time, it will invade more areas and become uncontrollable.• Don’t use fans to dry out the place as they may spread the spores of the mold to new places.

Water damage restoration services offer their customers informative guides to help them deal with any kind of water damage in their houses. The best water damage restoration services will provide you with information in situations like home leaks, mold control, how to deal with water damage until water damage restoration experts arrive and other situations.

These tips will be provided to you by any water damage restoration agent regarding how to deal with leaks in order to save your residence and reduce the costs of repairing your place. Let’s see what experts say.

1. Hot Water Tanks:You need to check the pressure relief valve of the tank of hot water regularly because sometimes they are plumbed into a drain. They may be leaking while you have no idea. You will know that they are leaking when you are not able to remove the drain pipe in order to check for a leak. You will listen for a hissing sound when the valves are leaking.

2. Toilets:These steps will show you how to check your toilet for a leak.

• Remove the top off the tank and listen as close as you can. If you heard any hissing, try to locate its source.• After locating the source of the leak, assess it and determine whether you can fix it or not. If you are not able to fix it, call water damage restoration services and have an expert to deal with the problem professionally.• If you didn’t notice anything, put some food coloring with a couple of drops in the tank and wait about 5 minutes. If there is coloring in the bowl, then there is a leak in the flapper at the tank’s bottom. This leak is allowing water to seep through. Decide whether you can fix it by yourself or you need a water damage restoration expert.• Repeat if you have more toilets.

3. Meter Line:Here is how to check your line that is running from the meter to your place if there is no leak in toilets.

• If you have a shut-off valve, turn it off temporarily until you complete your check.• Check the meter. Remove the lid and watch the dial on meter’s top.• If there is any dirt or grass covering the top of the meter, dig around until you can see the meter head clearly. The valve is turned off so if there is any leak, it is between the house and the meter unless you have a leaking valve which is very common too.• To locate the area of the leak, walk the distance between the meter and the valve until you find a sign of leak.• The signs of leak are such as soft muddy area or grass greener than the rest or growing faster.

4. General tips:• Check your garden by looking at hoses, drip irrigation systems and taps. • If you have a swimming pool, call a water damage restoration services to check it for leaks.• Check your shower for leaks; it is a common area for leaks.

We here in Always Preferred Restoration want to offer comprehensive guides about carpets and carpet cleaning to our clients; and this a new chapter of our tips.

We all face carpet cleaning situations when we really need a guide to help us to get through the situation. One of these situations is when the carpet is wet. If the wet spot is not large and can be removed easily, you may remove the carpet from the floor and hang it outside until it dries completely but if the spot is large or you deal with wet-to-wall carpet or the carpet is large, then you need to try to dry it at its place using certain methods. Here are how to deal with this situation.

1. Drying out a Carpet Quickly:Follow the following steps to dry out your carpet.

• Spread some clean towels over the wet area of the carpet. In order to make the towels completely saturated, you will need to walk up and down the area. After that, remove the wet towels and replace them with dry ones and repeat.Notice that you should check that padding and the floor to make sure that they are not wet too.• Use a vacuum until you get no more water.• The wet vacuum cleaner will remove the water from the carpet but it can’t remove it from the padding.• Dump the tank before hitting overflow and it depends on the amount of water that is in the carpet so you may have to fill and refill the tank many times.• Encourage the moisture to evaporate along with using towels and the vacuum.

2. Drying a Wall-to-Wall Carpet:Follow the following steps.

• Move all the pieces of furniture off the wet carpet in order to lift up the carpet and check the pad and the floor underneath it.• Remove the furniture as fast as possible so you can start your carpet cleaning immediately. Also, leaving the furniture on a wet carpet will damage the furniture, the flooring and the carpet.• Try to remove as much of the water as you can.• Of course, you will not be able to take up the entire floor but you definitely should check underneath the carpet.• If you don’t have a vacuum that is capable of removing water, rent one. Don’t use the regular vacuum cleaner as it is not effective.• Check the water many times in the carpet and beneath it until you make sure that the carpet and the floor are completely dry.

3. Drying a Carpet in a Car:Follow the following steps to be able to clean your car carpet well.

• Deal with the car as soon as possible as the mold can take about 24 hours then grow. The mold will cause a lot of problems.• Locate the place of the leak as dealing with the carpets without locating the leak isn’t the smartest move.• Vacuum the carpet well.• Repeat until you get the carpets dry and stop the leak.

This guide is for our community to learn from it that accidents do happen and they are serious.Water damage accident can be very serious especially if it is combined with contamination which leads to serious health and environmental problems. Water is one of the essential elements for the survival of all creatures on Earth so we need to take water damage accidents especially those related to contamination seriously. Let’s see the most serious water damage accidents through history.

1. U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune: We can sum up what happened in the following points. • The contamination that happened in this camp lasted for about 30 from 1952 to 1987. The number of people that were affected by this accident is estimated by about 500,000.• The chemicals that were found in the water affected the people with fatal diseases such as cancer (nearly all types of cancer), reproductive disorders, birth defects, and many rare conditions.• The symptoms appeared after a while. The families and residents of the camp consumed the water as normal; the water that contains chemicals and carcinogens.• There are some methods to get this water clean like Air Stripping and the evaporation of TCE and Volatile Organic Compounds.• There are some lawsuits and claims against the camp that should be taken seriously.

2. Woburn Massachusetts Water Contamination:We can sum up what happened in the following points. • Adell K. Heneghan at the University of Idaho made a case study that showed that the water of Woburn Massachusetts was contaminated for about 10 years from 1969 to 1979.• The diseases that affected the people there were fatal. There were 12 cases of children affected by leukaemia. The people of the area at the height of the contamination suffered from liver, kidney, prostate, and urinary cancers. Congenital anomalies and birth defects were common too. • The chemicals that present in the water are PCE, TCE, Chloroform, 1, 2 Dichloroethene and Arsenic. To get the water clean, the recommended methods are GAC and Air Stripping.

3. Hinckley Water Contamination: Another example of contamination as a water damage disaster is Hinckley Water Contamination. From 1952 to 1956, many people were reported to fall sick after being exposed to the contaminated water.The chemicals were very nasty and people complained of nearly all types of cancers and birth problems.The pollution was made by dropping hexavalent chromium or Chromium-6 in addition to the Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). After the examination of the water, the PBS found that the best effective way to get this water clean is to us an ion exchange treatment unit especially to get rid of Chromium-6.

Always Preferred, the famous water damage restoration business in Montana, offers its customers and the people of Montana this guide in order to make them understand well the relation between insurance policies and water damage. Insurance is what will guarantee that your properties will be covered in case you suffered from an accident. Water damage insurance policies are not as simple as they may appear; that is why this guide will tell you specific information about water damage insurance policies.​1. Water Damage Policies and Flood Damage Policies are Different: Not all damages caused by water are the same. Water damages made by floods are different from any other type of water damages.

• Flood damages are not covered by regular insurance policies. They are specific policies tailored for floods. The flood damages insurance policies are called the National Flood Insurance Policy (NFIP) and they are offered to the people who live in areas that may experience the risk of floods. • The flood damages insurance policies cover the damages completely. It is not like the policies that cover damages like bursting pipes or leaking roof.

2. Some Damages are Not Covered At All: There are some situations where the insurance policies do not work. If the damage is because you didn’t maintain your property well and the company may use this against you to avoid paying for the damages. If you noticed any kind of damages, just fix it as soon as possible to avoid further damages.

Note that the insurance company sends experts to examine your damages so they will find out any kind of tricks you may play.

3. Water Pollution Levels: There are 3 levels of water pollution.

• The first level which is the damage because of clean water resources. It is the easiest level to be repaired because the water is not contaminated. • The second level is when the water is contaminated. Fresh water contaminates after a while and may cause diseases.• The third level is when the water is highly contaminated. The sources may be already contaminated or when fresh water stays for longer time. This water is considered a bio hazard that needs immediate action.The levels of water pollution are important because according to them, the time and the price of water damage restoration services will be determined and subsequently the amount of money that the insurance company may pay.

Water damage is serious. It is not only about the fact that it is disastrous and will destroy nearly everything but also that it will take a long time before everything gets back like it was before the damage. There are a lot of myths regarding water damage that may slow the process of getting your properties back as it was. The following myths are so common and you should not believe them.

1. Myths regarding insurance:There are two myths regarding insurance policies and water damages.• The first myth is that you must call your insurance company first thing after the disaster and arrange the situation. The first thing that you need to take care of immediately after the disaster is to remove the standing water then call a restoration services agency. This way you will prevent any secondary damages that may occur like mold.• The second myth is that your insurance company will cover any type of water damages. Your insurance company will only cover damages that happen suddenly not including floods and any damages that are proved to be because you didn’t take care of a long-term problem like leakage problems.

2. You don’t need a professional restoration services agency:Many people think that they can handle the situation by themselves and eliminate the water from their place completely. This is a myth and will cause terrible secondary damages. The restoration services agents know how to deals with certain problems.• The water damage restoration services will be able to reach water in cracks and remove it completely. This water will lead to mold production if it is not removed properly.• If there is any mold, the restoration services will discover and remove it completely.• The insurance company will need reports from professionals to estimate the amount of money that the company will pay. The restoration services agents work along with the insurance agents.

3. Once the water is removed, the mission is completed:This is a myth. The water damage may show its complications after several weeks or months. Things like unstable flooring and discoloration of painting don’t appear immediately. They will show bigger problems regarding the structure of your property. Hiring a restoration services agency will help you in assessing the structural situation properly.

4. Renting the equipment that professionals use will solve the problem:This is a common myth. Renting the equipment will make you clean your place but you still need professional help to reach the places that you will not able to reach, avoid your secondary damages and help you with the insurance policy. In our modern age, we love specialties. We created this restoration services to buy peace of mind that whatever the extent of damages, we have professionals that will handle everything.

The following tips are provided by water damage restoration companies to help people deal with emergency cases when they face them. I now that the situation is so complicated but you need to calm down to be able to remember all these tips and apply them perfectly. This will help you to decrease the water damage and have control over the situation until you call for a professional help.

1. How to Deal with Electricity: You will be able to deal with electricity by several ways.• You need to turn the electricity off as soon as possible; that is the most important thing to do. It is better to turn it off the whole building not only the affected place as water is a good conductor of electricity. The electrocution possibility is too high so you need to keep your family safe first then the damage will be repaired later.• Any device that has been wet should be replaced after repairing the damage. The devices at the place of the damage should be replaced even if they look dry because sometimes they may have drops of water inside them.

2. Take Pictures of The Damages:Yes, it is a proper timing to take some pictures of the damages. These pictures will document the damages for your insurance company. Don’t make any kind of repairs or removing any water until you fully document the incident. The insurance coverage will decrease if you didn’t document the damages properly. Contact your insurance company as soon as possible to save a lot of money.

3. Start Removing Water:After the two previous steps; turning the electricity off and documentation of everything, start removing the standing water. You need to estimate the amount of water first.• If the amount is small, use buckets to remove the water.• If the amount is huge, rent a pump to suck the water out of your place.

4. Get Rid of Your Damaged Belongings:After removing the standing water, start categorizing the wet things into two categories. • Items that you can use after drying them out.• Items that you will not be able to use even if you dried them out. These should be thrown away along with organic materials.

5. Check the Integrity of the House: Now, evaluate the damages. Write notes and take more pictures. Check on everything after the repairing process and make sure everything is accounted for in your home.

When you have water damage, it now about finding the best water damage restoration service company as fast as you can. There are many reasons that may result in water damages such as cracks, leaking roofs, plumbing problems or wall moisture. These kinds of problems need immediate professional help; that is why you need to keep the number of the best water damage restoration services near you with you in case you needed it in such emergencies.

1. Choose a Certified Professional Company: It is important that the company you will hire is certified. This means it is kind of trusted. Also find the company that has certified workers. There are training courses available in water damage restoration services; make sure you hire workers who have the qualifications to manage your water damage problem professionally.

2. Ask Your Friends and Neighbours about Recommendations:Everyone suffered from water damage problems so when you ask your friends and neighbours about recommendations; they will certainly have some companies in their recommendation list.The reputation of the company among the local community should be great. When you work with a reputable company, you will be sure that they will do their best to keep their great reputation.

3. The Prices of the Services:It is a common mistake to choose the company only because their services are cheaper. Low prices mostly mean low quality of work.

4. The Experience:The experience of the company can be determined by many ways.• The good reputation.• The services the company offers. More services mean that the company has experience in many fields. • The previous customers reviews which can be checked on the company’s website or social media. Go for the company that had solved problems like yours before.

5. The Availability:If a water damage restoration services company is not available all the time, which company should be? The following situations will show you how availability is extremely important.• Imagine that you have a situation at midnight that requires immediate action. Make sure that you will be able to reach a company near you that is available at this time.• If the problem is huge, you need to make sure that the company will keep working at your place until the whole situation is solved. This means the company should be available all the time to keep you updated.

The proper understanding of water damage comes when we understand the basics like the definition, categories and classes of water damage. Water damage restoration services are one of the essential industries in the disaster management business. Water damage can result in damages that cost millions of dollars so it is important for anyone who is about to start a water damage restoration services business to understand well the following points in order to be able to manage the business well.

• Define water damage: It is the damages that result from water that may reach millions of dollars. The damages should not necessarily result from water but they may be the results of wood rotting, steel rusting and many other damages forms.

1. Category no.1:The first category includes the water sources that are not threats to humans which are known as clean water sources. Examples are the broken water supply lines, when a tub or sink overflows, and the appliance malfunctions including the lines of water supply.

2. Category no.2:The second category includes the water sources that have a degree of chemical, physical or biological contaminants. The water in this category is known as the grey water. When living creatures consume or got exposed to it, it makes them sick as it has harmful organisms that consume the nutrients in this grey water.

3. Category no.3:The third category includes unsanitary agents such as harmful bacteria and fungi. These harmful agents cause severe discomfort or sickness to the living creatures exposed to them. The water in this category is known as black water.

• Classes:The evaporation rate determines the water damage class. The evaporation rate is based on the affected materials, wetness and the place of the water damage. Determination of the water class is the first step of the whole restoration process. Here are the water damage classes.

1. Class no. 1: It has a slow evaporation rate and the water affects only a part of the room. The materials affected have little moisture absorbed.

2. Class no. 2:It has a fast evaporation rate and the water affects all the room with its carpets and furniture. The water reaches the wall of the room but it does not exceed 24 inches.

3. Class no. 3:It has a fast evaporation rate and the water affects the whole place.

4. Class no. 4:This class is made specifically for drying solution as drying requires a low level of humidity to be accomplished.

Normally carpets are strong and hardy items. They have to endure being walked on, getting mud and dirt stomped into them, and food or drinks spilled onto them pretty much all the time. This is almost a given for carpets and they require regular cleaning because of it.

That being said, one thing that is most problematic for even the hardiest of flooring is water. We are not talking about those little accidental spills every now and then. They are pretty much irrelevant. What is concerning is when a carpet gets a proper soaking and large parts of it are covered by water. That is when it can become a serious problem and the flooring can suffer great damage.

A wet carpet is no good for two major reasons which are mold and delamination. Let’s talk about both separately.

Mold:

Mold can be a real problem. It is not something that you would want on your floor or even in your home because not only does it cause foundational damage to your house and flooring but it is also a serious health hazard. It comes with a lot of allergens and bacteria that can cause you breathing problems if you do not deal with it properly. And a wet carpet is where this mold likes to grow. It spreads really quickly too. If a wet carpet is left on the floor unattended even for 24 hours, then there is a real possibility of mold spores developing on it. And once that happens, your flooring is pretty much useless.

Delamination:

Think of your carpet as a very big sandwich comprising of one backing layer, one layer of glue, and then the fiber itself. When this material gets wet, the water reacts with the bonding glue holding together the backing layer and the carpet. When this happens, the fibers starts to slowly detach from the backing layer as the bonding glue turns into thin strings similar to the mozzarella cheese on a pizza. This coming apart of the fiber is known as lamination. When this delamination occurs, bits of carpet begin to wrinkle and bubble up. Once this happens then there is nothing much that can be done to fix the damage and the material becomes useless.

Of course, carpets need to be cleaned properly and it should be done by people who are skilled at it. Use too much water and you can say goodbye to your expensive and valuable flooring. Always Preferred Restoration is here for precisely this reason. We are seasoned industry players and we make use of an innovative hot water extraction technique to ensure that your carpet is fully dried out and spotlessly clean.

Restoring a Carpet Damaged by Water in Nine Easy Steps:

If you have ever had to endure a water-damaged carpet, you will know that its smell is incredibly foul and nauseous. It feels like an unwanted amalgamation of dank mildew and a wet dog which spreads to every part of the house. The problem is that by the time your flooring gets into this condition, it has already been damaged beyond repair.

So, does this mean that a floor that has suffered water damage is completely ruined? Well, not exactly.Actually, you can save most carpets. It all depends on the amount and type of water that the material has dealt with and the time it has remained exposed to it. As long as you take timely action, there is always the possibility that you can prevent permanent damage to your flooring and prolong its life. Take a look at the steps mentioned below and follow them the next time your carpet has a wet encounter.

Step 1:

Pinpoint the source of excess water as this will help you determine if your carpet has a chance of survival. Is the water clean and coming from a leaky faucet or is it dirty coming from a sewerage backup or overflowing drain? If the flooring makes direct contact with this type of dirty water, then the better option is to get rid of it straight away. If, however, the water is clean then follow the next steps.

Step 2:

Fix the leakage. This can be something as simple as turning off a stop valve. Or, alternatively, you might need to bring in a plumber if the leakage is a bigger one and needs a professional to deal with it.

Step 3:

If needed, take out all extra furniture from that particular room or area of the house. After that, if it is safe (in case of clean water leakage), clear away all extra water from your damaged carpet using a dry towel(s).

Step 4:

Use a box cutter to take out any part of the carpet that has wet spots. This might seem a naive thing to do, but fibers can actually be stitched back together quite easily. More importantly, this action prevents the spreading of mildew. Take out the base padding from the cut out parts and get rid of it because it is likely to have been completely ruined. Next, remove the material from the floor and open all doors and windows to allow air to circulate the room.

Step 5:

For this step, you will need a few industrial size fans. These are actually easily available to rent (as well as purchase) from any good DIY store. Turn them on facing the affected part of the house. Set them on high speed for at least 24 hours and ideally for 36 hours. For larger sizes, the time it will take to dry out will be longer. Also, make sure that foot traffic in the area is at a minimum until the carpet is fully dry.

Step 6:

Thoroughly examine the carpet after 12 hours of drying. These initial 12 hours are critical because mold spores normally take hold in this period and it is important to make sure that the floors are completely dry. If it seems sufficiently dry, the fans should still be kept running to make sure of complete and permanent drying.

Step 7:

Get your insurance agent on the line. On grounds that you did not do this on purpose, get all the necessary paperwork ready and provide them all relevant details about your carpet damaged by water so they can initiate the process on their end.

Step 8:

When the carpet and nearby area are fully dry, get a portable dehumidifier to eliminate any underlying dampness in the room. It might be a good idea to keep this thing running for a few days.

Step 9:

When your carpet and the room are completely free of all dampness and moisture, get your floors stitched back together and bring back the furniture to where it was.

If all this seems a daunting task, then you can always call in the professionals. Over here at Always Preferred Restoration, we have taken care of water-damaged stuff quite a bit in the past and we know what it takes to fix your carpet. For more information, contact us here or give us a call.